December brings with it the end of a year, and I woke up this morning feeling an overwhelming urge to reveal who Turner Collins really are, to put an end to the secret. My best friend and I began writing together three years ago, but writing under the pseudonym a year and a half ago, back when we started this blog. We were new at the whole writing thing and we wanted to post without judgement. Sharing our work with you, our blog followers, has boosted our confidence in both ourselves, and the things we create. With your support, we took the plunge and self-published a novel.

At this point in our journey, we feel secrecy will only hold us back. We want to grow and move forward in an effort to be able to connect with you all in a more personal way. So with all that being said, we would like to introduce you to the girls behind Turner Collins.

Turner is….

Hello, my name is Tracey and I make up the Turner part of Turner Collins. I’m 23 and live in Calgary, Alberta. I am responsible for the Jacob pieces that you find on the blog as well as many of the short stories. Okay, and maybe a poem or two, however they don’t hold a candle to the resident poetry buff, Collins. I have been writing since I was able to hold a pen. When I was younger, I went through something very traumatic that I dealt with through writing. It started as journalistic pieces, well, as journalistic as a ten year old could get. Talking about the world and current events, learning as much as I could. Once I got into high school it turned into fleshed out novels and stories. Characters have always come naturally to me, they talk to me until I finally get them out into the world.

Other than writing, I have been doing photography since I was fifteen years old and received my first camera. I am an avid movie buff and read a book daily. I am no good at art, but I love looking at it. Music is a huge part of my life and it aids in most of my writing. There is a soundtrack for each piece and book that we’ve ever written on my IPhone.

In 2012, I started a job where I met my best friend and writing partner, Christina. One day, I decided to throw an idea her way: “Why don’t we write a book together?” By the end of that day, we had an entire novel plotted and ready to write. Five finished books and many, many story ideas later, here we are. Collins and I are both big fans of lists, so here is one with points about me.
-I enjoy museums and historical sights
-I have tattoos as well as piercings and plan to get more
-Some of my favorite movies are: Moulin Rouge, The Outsiders, and Life (The movie about James Dean)
-It’s my life mission to see all my favorite bands
-I want to travel
-I was a theater kid and did a bit of acting. As well as written and directed plays.

Collins is….

Hello, my name is Christina, and I make up the Collins part of Turner Collins. I’m 22 and live in Calgary, Alberta. I’m responsible for most of the poetry you find on this blog. I’ve always written, but it wasn’t until high school that I really began recording my feelings. I developed horrendous anxiety that made every day a painful struggle. The only way I found to cope was with pen and paper. Shortly after high school ended I began a new job, where I met my best friend and writing partner. The rest as they say is history.

Surprisingly there is more to me than writing, I’m also an avid photographer, macro and portraiture being my favourite things to capture. I paint a ton, generally watercolor or another medium I like to call ‘organic painting.’

I could go on and write paragraphs upon paragraphs, but let’s be honest, bullet points are the best. Here’s a few facts to get to know me really quick:
– I’m a huge history buff
– My top three favourite movies are: The Warriors, Logan’s Run, and Raising Arizona
– I could spend days inside antique shops
– I impulsively get it in my head that I must learn something new and follow through. Last year it was juggling, this year it’s ukulele.
– Indie music and k-pop are and will forever be my obsessions
– I’m the descriptive type, adding enough description to Turner’s dialogue to drive her nuts!
– As you can tell by the number of bullets I chose to include, my favourite number is 7

Now that that big reveal is out of the way, we’re excited to go forward and share ourselves with all of you. In putting faces to the name, we hope to connect with you all on another level. We all feel, hurt, experience joy, fall, get back up. Our hope is that our work resonates with at least one person.

There comes a strange jumping off point as a friendship progresses. I’ve walked cautiously up to this point and peered over the edge into the foggy and unclear ravine. The point I’m talking about is assumption.
As a friendship progresses, several assumptions begin to materialize. You begin to think things like: This person likes me too, this person understands me, I know what this person means when they say this. Things like that. They do the same with you as well.
The most frightening assumption is that this person needs you as much as you need them. When you voice your assumption to this person in a way that you open yourself up to rejection, you’re getting somewhere.
It’s extremely easy to think to yourself that this person derives happiness from you, that they care for you equally, but until you voice these thoughts to that person, you will never know if those feelings are reciprocated. Exposing yourself in this way can lead to self-doubt. Suddenly you start thinking things like: What if they don’t feel the same way, what if they think of me differently, what if they think I’m clingy?
The defining point in a friendship is when you put someone else’s needs before your own. When, even though a decision or choice makes you scared, you make it anyway. It’s hard to push past the selfishness that we all feel when it comes to a dear friend. But if a hard choice needs to be made that benefits them, regardless of how it makes you feel, you need to let them know that you support it.
The point that I’m trying to get across in this ramble is that you both need to be exposed to grow. Honesty can be both beautiful and terrifying. Friendship is a living, breathing organism that needs constant attention and a raw diet.
-Collins

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I don’t even know where to begin with this quote. It is so unbelievably true. We spend out whole lives trying to be understood by others, but seldom do they really understand. This is what makes it so much more exciting to be talking with someone and then they say something that makes you pause for a moment and think “They really get me!” Now that kind of moment is rare and should be treasured. When you share this understanding bond with someone, amazing things can come out of it. You can talk freely about anything without fear of judgement or offense. So when you find someone who understands you completely and you completely understand them in return, keep them close, because you’ve just met someone who is one in a million.

As you all know, Collins is our main squeeze. She writes all the cool blog posts, posts all the cool music and is all around just super cool. Collins is the brains behind this crazy duo we have. It was recently my second halfs birthday, and I’d like to extend another one on here! May all her years furthermore be amazing and let’s hope she keeps pumping out all that awesome writing!

It’s okay to disagree. Disagreeing on something does not make you any less friends. In fact, depending on how you handle this, it can make you closer. What I’ve learned is that by agreeing to disagree you can feel comfortable voicing your opinion on any topic without fear of being judged or torn down. Also, by disagree and talking about your opposing sides, a great conversation can come out of it.

Appearances can be deceiving. When you first meet someone and you judge them on their appearance, and let that judgment cloud your impression of that person, you might just miss out on a great friend. If you can get past first impressions and get to know this person, you are already 60% closer to gaining a friend.

Space is never an issue. Whether you don’t see your friend for days or months, when you get together it’s as if you were never apart. They don’t always need to be physically present to be there for you.

They stimulate your mind. If your friend is able to get you thinking, they are able to challenge your assumptions and ideas, they are worth keeping around. You should come away from conversations having grown.

If you can break plans without feeling guilty. You should be able to flake sometimes without judgement. If you experience anger or resentment from your friend because you skipped out them, then they are not worth your time.

You are past feeling jealous or left out when they hang out with someone else/ you can feel genuinely happy for your friend when they talk about the time they hung out with someone else.

You can celebrate your friend’s accomplishments without feeling like they are bragging.

And finally, you feel like a better person for having known them.

Let me know in the comments what signs you consider to part of a healthy friendship. I’d love to hear them.